


Halloween, Three Years Ago

by lumienarc



Series: Hauntober 2020 [11]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:14:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27330304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lumienarc/pseuds/lumienarc
Summary: What happened three years ago? Well, this will not answer that question, but at least there is something that happened that needed to be mentioned.The last entry for Hauntober 2020 with the remaining prompts: Horns, Ghosts, Cryptid, Skeletons, and free prompt.This is also the first part of what I write for NaNoWriMo 2020.
Series: Hauntober 2020 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948243
Kudos: 1





	Halloween, Three Years Ago

Before the Great War, somewhere in Europe, there was a region called  Adder. The region was comprised of two towns, one city called Rushmere, and three small villages. Most people would not know about this region’s existence because of the heavy magic that surrounded it just like the magnanimous forest and mountainous area. Some said it was full with monsters and witches, danger lurked at every corner, and the population was merely 367 for the whole region. At least that was how many that was reported. The North Forest was the northmost part of the region where the Town of Neive was located. This town was known as the most dangerous among others, population of witches: one. That was not supposed to be since witches loved to live as near as possible to power source, but as powerful as this town might be, they did not dare to dwell in it.

The townsfolk were used to anything strange happened to them. Children lost? Okay. People found dead? No wonder. Sudden heavy fog? Just stay inside. A strange boy came from faraway place? Probably was an entertainment than something to be scared of. They were still very much afraid of all these things, they always told the newcomers, if there was any, and their children to keep vigilant at all times. The stories they told were mostly about the witch that lived next to the haunted mansion—actually she was pretty well accepted in the environment—the haunted mansion itself, the foreign man with unexpected powers that hardly showed himself to the townsfolk and his in-laws that were associated with inhuman beings, creatures of the woods, strange animals that looked like normal wild animals, demons of the north, and mostly the Northern Forest. Something about the Northern Forest kept them away from it, not because it was at the northmost region, but it was very close to the mountain and many strange things happened to people who dared to come into that place before, either they lost and disappeared, or they ended up somewhere else completely different. The only way to enter the town was from the eastern forest. That was where all the remaining towns, city, and villages located. Even when led by the stars, people still could get lost if they didn’t abide to the rule of the Neive people. With so many things to look out for, they lived in fear of the night, however nothing,  _ nothing _ , scared them more than the parade of monsters.

This circus of horror took place on All Hallows’ Eve. Before sundown of 31 October, people of Neive, instead of preparing to celebrate either Samhain or Halloween, they cleaned the town, the streets and their houses. They made sure there was enough resources to keep them awake and warm through the night. They had rushes prepped in lamb fat in case they ran out candles and oil for their lighting. They had drinks and food, weapons in the hands of the adults. They hang silver crosses and garland of garlics on their doors and windows. The kids were allowed to sleep, but the adults must be next to them. This was mostly because they thought children’s souls were in danger of being stolen if their parents were not watchful. No one alive remembered how it looked like outside. All they could remember and know as it started right when the last light of sun disappeared that evening was bloodcurdling laugh and shadows of many shapes and  bone chilling music.

The voices of the laugh were ranged from childish giggle to monstrous baritone roaring laugh. It also sounded like they were singing in unknown language, but sometimes, it was like they sang something along the lines:

_ Tonight _ _ the full moon arises _

_ Hunting season comes in full _

_ Pick your prey, dip in water and anises _

_ Sweet and crisps bones dull _

_ Humans of all ages _

_ Fear death much we cull _

Certainly, they could have misheard it. They weren’t singing the words clearly. That and also people were too frightened to understand what they were saying. The townsfolk saw as they passed the shadows of the monsters. There were many with horns and sharp claws and they were of various shapes and sizes. Sometimes one of these horned monsters would stop momentarily and come closer to one of the houses, trying to peek, but they couldn’t come too close. Someone claimed they had seen a giant eye through the crack of their window. It was red and black, like the coal in the hearth. Among those also existed ghosts, which many people had claimed that their houses were made as their paths just because they were feeling mischievous. The ghosts were not just transparent beings. They were scary, brought back as they were dead, could be of any  colour as the last clue of how they felt when they died. Red for anger, blue for sadness and loneliness, green for envy, yellow for greed, white for confused, purple for  honourable death or death by betrayal, and black for the darkest soul of them all. That was how they told it to people. No one had dared to ask the credibility of the stories or any proof about it. No one actually cared for the fact, they quite enjoyed this kind of tales as long as they were safe.

One of the things that they also were extremely horrified with was the cryptids. They never really knew which cryptids showed up in the parade, but this year they could see a silhouette of a massive bat flying with massive claws and fearsome fangs. Enough to make people churned. The goat-legged demons were among them. The demonic black hellhounds. Skeletons that shambled and were reassembled as they went. Clack-clack-clack. Swoosh. Cackles. Oh, so many noises that weren’t normal. The parade only finished when the pumpkin king emerged from the pumpkin patch and walked through the town. The pumpkin king received a round of applause as he traded into town with his long legs and fleshless hands. He was brought on the stake in the form of scarecrow, his head made of the best pumpkin, his body was covered by a tattered black cloth, a ghostlike grin even reflected in the shadow that he cast. He would come down from the stake, revealing his long limbs; and then he would trample and scare the other monsters. He would take small or big monster as he liked, engulf it whole, scare the crowd of monsters shitless. Everyone would scream and shriek in fear as they all would kneel and worship him. He would pass once he was satisfied. Then, they would go after him. This all ended before the sunrise. Everything always went like this year after year except the one that happened three years ago.

Instead of a frightening parade that lasted for the night, there was a vampire and a human present in the parade. The human was a young man and the vampire was of a young female shape. The vampire was fighting the pumpkin king because the monsters were kidnapping the man.

“He was lost in the woods. Unhand him this instant or I shall show you how severe it would be for you, O Great Pumpkin King!” the vampire commanded bravely and coldly. If you wanted to know why people knew it was a vampire, it was very obvious. People peeked. No one had spoken the language of human before, and no one had gone against the pumpkin king before. It was too much to pass on. They all saw her, floating menacingly eye to eye with the terrifying monster. Her face pale and eyes gold under the full moon. Her cloak was as dark as the night. The human man was held by his limbs by monsters around the pumpkin king, ready to be fed to him. The pumpkin king laughed mockingly, his head and body swayed back and forth.

“Why did you think you could withstand me, puny halfling?”

“Halfling as I am, my powers excel in the night of full moon. If you are wise, you will do as I say and I shall let you continue with your little annual parade,” the vampire replied confidently, unyielding.

“Why do you care about one human? Is he your food?” the king of the monsters scoffed. He was reaching for the human, but the vampire flew in a flash and ripped off his right arm singlehandedly. The pumpkin king screamed in agony and rage. The vampire threw it back at him, causing the mighty horrifying figure to fall on his back.

“I can eradicate every and each one of you right now, right here, so if you still want to exist in any world you do now, unhand the human,” she declared, her eyes full with anger and empty of mercy. The monsters cowered, but the pumpkin king disagreed strongly.

“You shall not give her the human!”

“Then so be it.”

The vampire put off her cloak, revealing regalia that shone golden under the moonlight. She was one with the full moon. Fury in her fists brought her to destroy the pumpkin king’s head and an incantation from her lips lit the remaining body of the king incinerated in blue flames. This was enough to make the monsters scramble away in fear, more than they showed to the king in the years before. The human was thrown to the street as they all fled. There was thick fog that suddenly rose up everywhere. No one could see what happened to the man or the vampire afterward because when the fog cleared up, nothing remained on the street. It was as clean as they had left it.

As much as they should have thought that they were saved, one of the townsfolk said that she must have been wanting to lead the monsters, she must have killed the king to take his place, and it must be true that the man was her food. She was a vampire after all, and a powerful one, too. The townsfolk were not well educated, mind you, so they were so easy to believe any idea that came from anyone. And  so it was how they believed for what they had witnessed with their own eyes although for the next three years, there was no heavy fog, there was no parade of monsters...

And still, they didn’t care about what secret behind the incident they saw that night.


End file.
